So, this morning I made an early and fast shopping trip to Kroger for an avocado for breakfast, and got a few other items as well. I paid with a $20 and he rang everything up, gave me my change, and handed me the receipt. I always check the receipt, so I automatically looked through everything and went to compare my change with the amount on the receipt. Well... there was no change on the receipt. He had rang it up as if I had simply paid the exact price for the sale, and no money back. I asked him about it, and he said that that was just how he rang it up and that it didn't make a difference either way, since I had my change. After trying to get a better explanation; and not getting anywhere, I just took my groceries, and went to ask for the manager. I explained everything to him, and, to my surprise, he said that they don't usually do it that way; but sometimes they do. I asked him, what if I was given the wrong change; I had no way to prove it since the register receipt said I was not due any change. He pretty much just sided with the cashier; and I was pretty upset; but seeing it was not going to get anywhere, I left and came home. Then I went to the Kroger website and their Facebook page and complained about what happened, and said that if this was their new customer policy, I was very distressed about it. I did ask for a response; so we will see if they email me and what they have to say about this at the corporate level.
That's very odd, and would make me uncomfortable. How old were the cashier and manager? It sounds as if that's something they do because they're used to everyone paying with cards, instead of cash. I can't imagine an old school manager ever supporting that policy. If you don't hear back, or if you aren't satisfied with the response you get, I'd follow that bad boy up the chain, because it sounds like a perfect way to cheat customers out of money, and I doubt Kroger wants their reputation ruined by something like that.
@Yvonne Smith, I didn't quite get the whole story. You said you were given a change but the receipt did not reflect the change. In effect, you were not shortchanged and the receipt seemed to be overpriced. Am I correct on that? I don't know why they have that policy, it is nonsense. It seems like they don't want to be bothered by loose change maybe. Over here, there was a time that grocery stores would give candies as change instead of coins. But that was questioned and the Department of Trade and Industries came out with a memorandum making that candy change illegal.
That is odd indeed. When I worked in a restaurant a server would ring up the wrong amount paid and keep the change, that is stealing. If that happened in the restaurant that server was fired. I would not want my purchase to be rung up that why, as you said what if there was a problem with the change how would you know how much you had coming back?
Corie, I actually bought a little over $12 worth of groceries, and paid cash with a $20 bill. I was due $7 and some-odd cents back for my change, which is what he gave me. When I stopped to look at my receipt, it just showed that I had paid him the $12+whatever the cents part was, and not that I had given him the $20. So, although he had actually given me back the correct change; if he had not given me the right amount, there was no way that I could prove it, because the receipt showed that I had paid with the exact amount of money as I spent. The store sent me an email back saying that they would look into it, and that was the last that I ever heard from them. They didn't say whether it was or was not against the store policy to give incorrect receipts. I have not had it happen since; but then again, I do not usually pay with cash. I do think that it would be very easy to steal money from a shopper when the cashier does not give you a receipt showing the amount that you actually paid.
@Yvonne Smith, thank you for the elaboration. Now I fully understand the story. But come to think of it, why would that store clerk do that and why is it a policy of the store? I mean, would they have saved on the sales taxes? Oh well, there are some weird things in some systems and methods not only of stores but also in offices. I had mentioned that candy change is now illegal and what do they do for those change of 25 centavos? They withhold it and say they have no coins. In most of the groceries here including convenience stores, that's the norm. So if you buy something worth 19.25 and you pay 20, don't expect any change. And if you ask, you will just get embarrassed.
So, what do we need to start doing carrying pocket calculators around with us, we can calculate what we are spending and how much is owed back to us. Come on, this is ridiculous. I am now seeing why my sister stands there studying every transaction that is being calculated by the casheir. But even that would only make sure the items are being tallied the right way, it doesn't ensure that the change coming back to us is right. No, I don't approve of places now being given the right to do this, and acting like its all right, because to me its like covering up mistakes made by cashiers.
Well, I guess you still have it better than us folks in Romania. Here, they very rarely give out receipts, and in fact, a few months ago, they started a nationwide campaign involving store controls and even a lottery in order to encourage stores to give them out. The lottery works like this: you keep the receipt, and at the end of the month there usually is a drawing (today was the one for this month). If you have the amount that was randomly drawn (say, $10 in your country) on a receipt, you and everyone else who turn said receipt get to share a fairly huge amount of money. I think it's a fantastic system, but I still see a lot of businesses which don't give out receipts, and that really bugs me.
For many years I worked as a cashier in my uncles store, this was before the days of debit cards and stuff like that. The register then and even now are made with a few functions and it all depends on how you ring the items in, these days we have scanners but back then you had to either know the price or have it tagged. Anyway I digressed, the point is at the end of the sale in all cash registers then- there was a choice of two buttons, one would allowed for you to then ring in what the customer gave you and show the change, the other button just closed the sale as if you had exact change tendered. If you have the correct change back I would say that the cashier just totaled the sale thinking maybe it would be a debit transaction. In that case there would be no change (or very seldom change, here you must tell the cashier in advance if you are drawing out more then just the price of the groceries, you can do it but it is limited in amount to $50 I think). There really is no harm in this from the stores perspective because no matter what the stock leaving the store was tendered and deducted. I agree from the buyer perspective you have to be vigilant and check your change immediately because you could be short changed, accidentally or on purpose. What is most surprising to me is the number of people today that cannot calculate what the change would be. I have watched cashiers struggle to figure out a transaction. Why just Friday i had to buy a pane of glass for a small window that broke, This happens often and i am sure what the cost should be. The calculation is the area of glass as a percentage of the total cost of a larger pane of glasses cost. Two guys could not come up with how to calculate this and first told me some crazy price of close to $10. I told them immediately that they were wrong I buy these panes all the time and it is only a small amount, like $2. We have the small paned glass storm windows and it never fails every season one or more gets cracked or broken somehow. Finally I had to say look at that larger whole piece you were going to cut from how much was that? and he agreed it was much less for a larger piece, and I said so this is actually half the size (actually less then half) and he agreed, "So why then would the calculation be so high?" The guy turned all sorts of shades of red. in the end it was $2.34. people today are losing the ability to think mathematically for solutions to currency and/or other calculation problems. It is frightening,
Its the difference between 1 button and 5 buttons. When you're workiing a register somewhere that gets pretty busy you tend to look for whatever shortcuts you can find... even if no one sees it as a real difference. I've done it a lot of times. Unfortunately it takes for granted that people know you are honest. If I or any of my employees did it and had a dispute, the customer would be given the change they claimed to be entitled to. But at my stores its never been an issue.
It doesn't seem right that the receipt didn't have all the details that it should have. Everywhere I go to shop there is details of everything that went on of the transaction even the amount tendered and the change. I like to look at the receipt too when I'm leaving to make sure everything is correct especially the prices. I check everything and make sure it's correct. I have never heard of a store having no details of the tendered amount and change omitted. But what Jennifer Graves said well they can do what they did to you on a receipt.
Usually, a store will have its regular customers who know you aren't going to rip them off. Otherwise, if you count the change back to them they seem to be more confident about it.